As Coast Guard officials try to determine more about the debris field found near the site of the Titanic, families with relatives who died or survived the 1912 Titanic disaster want tourism to the shipwreck to stop.
John Lacascio’s uncles died on the Titanic. “I compare it to people looking at a grave, people died there, tragically very tragically,” Lacascio said.
Among the 1,496 passenger and crew who perished in the Titanic disaster, Lacascio says the site of the shipwreck, two and a half miles down on the bottom of the ocean floor, shouldn’t be treated as an expensive tourist destination, but instead, a private cemetery that’s off limits to the public.
“Why make it a place for people to go see, why do you have to do that? Let the people rest, bodies are down there, or what’s left of them, the ship is there, what’s left of it. It’s a peaceful site there right now, or as peaceful as it can be,” Lacascio said.
His uncles, Alberto and Sabastiano Peracchio were working as waiters in one of the ship’s restaurants when the Titanic hit an iceberg. The two were only 17 and 20-years-old at the time. Lacascio and his wife say the two died a horribly tragic death, and deserve to rest in peace.
“If my soul was there, I wouldn’t want people coming down to look at me,” Lacascio said.
Lacascio’s wife, Angelica Harris, documented the story of the Peracchio brothers in a book. “Think about what these people were, why they lived, how they died, just by looking at the Titanic, you can see the tragedy, they did by violence,” Harris said.
In her opinion, the site of the Titanic should be used for education and research only. Calling the site sacred ground.
“Being an educator, if you’re going to go down there...revere the titanic as a grave, for us, it’s our uncles that are our loved ones but there are many other loved ones that are there,” Harris said.
712 people survived the Titanic shipwreck by boarding the limited number of lifeboats that were reserved for women and children. Maritime experts say they do anticipate both the U.S. government and the Canadian government to consider regulations on Titanic tourism, citing the millions of dollars being spent in search and rescue efforts.